


pochette

by ultncts



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Bands, Fluff, Guitars, High School, Love, M/M, Personal Growth, markhyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 10:50:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14307072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultncts/pseuds/ultncts
Summary: The violinist believed that his and the guitarists lives were too different, but maybe after some time he'd realise that the annoying punk with apricot hair wasn't so bad after all.





	pochette

A symphony of sounds filled the empty air of the wide auditorium, tones from the cellos mixing with those of the violins, their harmony met perfectly by the runs of the flutes and clarinets.

It echoed throughout Donghyuck’s eardrums, inspiring him to hit each string of his violin so precisely so that the entirety of the group could be carried by his instrument.

Donghyuck’s arms were aching from using all his strength and power to get each more perfectly correct, and his ears were sore from the mixing of noises.

 

The song was reaching its brilliant peak, the conductor, professor Moon, was shaking his baton with the most upmost speed, controlling each and every note that Donghyuck and the other musicians made. Then, much to everyone’s delight the song came to an end, the loud mixing of notes suddenly nothing but an air of dry silence. After a few minutes, Moon put down his baton signalling the end of the peice and sighs of content and relief filled the air and a few members of the orchestra began whooping in happiness, which spiked the loud uproar that followed.

 

“Very well!” Professor Moon clapped his hands, the sound of his skin echoing within the room to catch everybodies attention, before wiping the beads of sweat from the edge of his short hazel hair with a loud sigh. He had been working on this musical number for the longest time. Today was the first time he had heard his students perform the complete song, he seemed to be very happy with the results. 

Donghyuck was fond of his teacher, he wasn’t _that_ much older than himself. He remembers attending the senior graduation ceremony last year, in which Professor Moon announced he had received the offer to teach the classical instruments part of the school. “Good work today, you’re all free to go to lunch”

 

Donghyuck however, stayed put. Instead of following his classmates in dissembling their instruments and packing them away, he simply wiped his hands on the towel by his feet with a loud huff. He took a small gulp of water and sat on the small stool behind him, crossing his hands over his lap as he tried to wait patiently for everybody to leave.

 

“You're not coming for lunch again today?” A soft voice broke his serenity, the voice belonged to the brunette who sat perched on his stool less than a meter away He had a look of concern on his face. “You stay here alone too much, Dong”

 

“Renjun” Donghyuck released a scoff, crossing his arms. “Unlike _you,_ I actually need to practice if I want to get a scholarship in this major”

 

“As your best friend I’m telling you, you’ll pass easy”The smaller boy was packing away his cello as he spoke, an amused smirk plastered on his face. “And if not, you have parents who are rich enough to pay your way to a good final grade”

 

Donghyuck only replied with a middle finger, watching the class slowly disappear from the auditorium, leaving him completely alone in the large space.                                    Although it was slightly creepy with the empty silence and darkness of the seated area before him; he enjoyed it. He liked being able to practice with nobody around and with nobody to judge his mistakes as he practices on his music. 

 

With a usual deep breathe, he set the chin-rest below his jawline, ignoring the scratchy feeling of the material against his skin. Upon lifting his bow to begin playing the first few notes of the old violin number, Chaconne, he was abruptly disrupted by a loud crash coming from the edge of the stage. 

 

At first, he couldn’t work out what had made the sound, but then a boy crawled forward into the stage lighting while on his knees, a large guitar case flopping at his side.

 

“Fuck, shit that really really hurt”

 

Narrowing his eyes, Donghyuck set his violin on his knee and glared at the boy who had interrupted his song.

He was instantly thrown back by his appearance, his faded apricotcoloured hair poking out from the edges of a scrappy black beanie, and his dainty body covered in what looked like a flannel shirt from the nineties. He surely was not apart of the classical music area of the school like himself, but clearly belonged to the grunge scene who took part in the alternative elements of music. 

 

“You know” Donghyuck huffed, making the other boy look in his direction “It is extremely rude to interrupt a violinist while they are practising”

 

The boy let out a high pitched giggle which caught Donghyuck of guard, it was not the reaction he had been expected to his brash words. He quickly moved to his feet and brushed down his knees that he had fallen onto. His pale knees could been seen through the tears of his jeans and Donghyuck couldn't quite work out if they were meant to be ripped or not. 

 

“Cute” He was still giggling, even taking steps towards Donghyuck, clearly not being able to tell that the violinist was slightly repulsed at the sight of him. “That was cute”

 

“Excuse me?” Donghyuck pulled a hand through his dark hair, scooting his chair back as the other got a little too close to him. The other student set his guitar case by the smaller violin case that was situated by Donghyuck’s black shoes. “What _are_ you doing?”

 

The other looked up, a soft, clueless expression on his face. “The way you said that was cute, nice and snobby”

 

Donghyuck felt baffled, the boy sure had a lot of confidence; walking in on him, then even unpacking his own instrument, and having the audacity to call him _cute._

For a short moment, his eyes caught with those of the intruders, and he felt his heart soften at how round and shiny they were and for a split second he felt guilty for being rude to someone so harmless. Despite that, it wasn’t long before he snapped back to his senses, letting out another scoff.

 

Although the other had a student ID wrapped around his neck, Donghyuck had never recalled seeing him around the school they attended. Most probably due to the fact that the classical students tended to steer clear of those with bright coloured hair and loud mouths.

 

 

They both sat in quietness, the other boy however was not completely as quiet, a string of whispered curse words leaving his mouth as he heaved out a large black electric guitar from his case. He swung it over his shoulder, ignoring Donghyuck’s presence for a moment as his nimble fingers meddled with the knobs at the top, and then carried himself towards the back of the stage without explaining why. 

 

“Hey, cutie” He yelled from the back of the stage, Donghyuck couldn’t see his face as it was hidden in the purple velvet curtain that hung down at the back of the stage. “Do you know where they keep the amps in here?”

 

“My name isn’t cutie” He spat back, feeling a wave of irritation at this boys audacity, but also a strange wave of shyness at the pet name. “And, amps? What do you think this place is, an underground gig?”

 

Patters of the others feet echoed as he stepped back to where he was before. With no warning, he stuck his hand out to grab the student ID around Donghyuck’s neck, tugging it gently before Donghyuck gasped and swatted it away with the violin bow that was still clasped inside his left hand, making the other drop it back against his salmon shirt.

 

“Donghyuck, thats a nice name, I think I have heard that around” Just as quickly as putting it on, the punk unwrapped the guitar from his neck and began setting it against the stage. He had clearly ignored Donghyuck's question on purpose “My name is Mark”

 

“Of course you’ve heard my name around, I’m the best violinist in this grade” Mark held his hands up in defence quickly, still wearing a smile on his face. “Also, are your hands dirty? You touched my shirt and if you couldn’t tell, its Ralph Lauren”

 

“They aren't dirty” He held them up to his nose and stiffed, grimacing slightly but hid it well with another giggle. “Whatcha doing all here alone during lunch anyway, Hyuck?”

 

“ _Dong_ hyuck” He clicked his tongue. “And I am trying to Practice peacefully.I should be asking what _you're_  doing here? Isn’t the music room for the punks in the basement?”

It was almost like Mark couldn't read others mannerisms, he stuck a finger out and wiggled it while laughing like a child. Donghyuck didn’t think what he had said was funny in any way, but the punk had seemed to find it amusing. It felt weird, to have somebody not be offended by his strikes, he knew he was a rude and impatient person, and Mark was challenging him. It felt somewhat, exciting to Donghyuck, but It was also making his patience wear very very thin. 

 

“The basement? No, however that would be cool” Mark shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “My bandmates sent me here to check how the electric instruments echo, as it will sound different to the choir and orchestra. We need it to sound okay for the talent show”

 

Before Donghyuck even had time to make a rude remark, the boy gasped dramatically as he looked at the clock that sat on the wall and quickly swung his guitar case back over his shoulders; Donghyuck tried to ignore the fact it made him look even daintier than before. Mark quickly straightened his beanie before gliding of to the edge of the stage.

 

“Gonna be late for class!” Mark huffed, waving a hand that was bigger than his face in the direction of Donghyuck's eyes. “See you around, cutie”

 

It took Donghyuck a few minutes to realise what had just happened, all he wanted to do was practise, but instead he had been bombarded by one of the punks and distracted for the entire lunch break. It also took him a few minutes to ignore the fact his face was heating up when he realised somebody had tried to flirt with him, it didn’t happen often.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Donghyuck pushed past a group of people in the halls, and stormed his way into the cafeteria, not bothering to hold the door open for others behind him.

He had just managed to get into the school, three hours late. It was _not_ his morning, things were going terribly wrong since he woke up an hour later than he should’ve, got caught in a thunderstorm and left all his homework at home, and that was the least of it.

 

He headed straight for his usual table near the window, his two closest friends already sitting there. He wasn’t sure if he was insane, or if he had noticed the same annoying face from the day before following his movements as he passed by a table full of bright haired students. He clenched his teeth and pointed his eyes in another direction and acted like he hadn’t seem him staring intently. 

 

“Look what the cat dragged in” Renjun spoke softly as Donghyuck swung his bag over his shoulder and slammed it onto the table. Renjun didn’t even look up at him, his eyes were glued to a sheet of blue paper before of him. His other friend, Jaemin, however did look up from his own work as he sat down.

 

“What happened to _you?_ ” Jaemin pointed a finger at his hair, and brought his other hand up to his face to stifle his laugh. “Looks like you got caught in a cacophonous hurricane”

 

“Ive had the worst morning guys” Donghyuck sighed, rubbing rain droplets out of his eyelashes. “Look at my new sweater! Absolutely soaked”

 

Jaemin sighed, still laughing at his soaked best friend. His head dropped back down to his sheet of notes, circling things with a thick black pen and spoke sarcastically with a small smirk “Dong, you need to stop being so self absorbed”

 

“Jaemin is right” Renjun added, flicking his paper over to the next page and continued highlighting notes. “Anyway, you need to study. We need to learn the song for the show by next week. Moon will be annoyed if your behind”

 

“But, you wont believe my morning! First of all my father-”

 

“Donghyuck” Renjun held a hand up, interrupting him. “Tell us later, I need to get this done before I forget”

 

Donghyuck huffed, and the table fell into dense silence. He didn’t want to feel offended, but he couldn’t help but feel so. For once, he wished his best friends would listen to his issues and help him out, but all they wanted to do with study study and study some more. He knew they didn’t do it to be spiteful, it was important that they remain top of their instrumental studies but sometimes Donghyuck felt like they truly didn’t care for his feelings.

Every other table was full of laughing students, playing music, joking and chatting excitedly, but here he was, sitting in quietness with just two other people. He felt lonely, and isolated. 

 

Although he was lonely, he knew he had only himself to blame. Him, Jaemin and Renjun weren’t the friendliest people, they had the rich stuck up image written across their foreheads, not many people wanted to approach them. And truthfully, Donghyuck enjoyed the way people knew him; he liked being rivalled by other violinists, he liked people being intimidated by him. Nevertheless, just sometimes he wanted to be listened to, he wanted a huge group of friends, he wanted to have fun.

 

“Whatever, losers” He shook his head, acting un-offended, and rose to his feet. “I’m gonna go get some lunch”

 

With only hums in response, Donghyuck headed towards the edge of the cafeteria, towards where the food was being served.

Within a few minutes, he had a blue food tray with a cup of water and a bowl of white rice. He was getting impatient, he could smell the chicken soup being served but the line seemed to not be moving so quickly anymore. His stomach was rumbling and his legs were still damp and cold from his wet dress pants, he desperately wanted to eat his food and then go dry off in one of the bathrooms.

 

Just as he was about to step forward, he felt another body knock into his shoulder and an all too familiar voice speaking in his ear. “Hey cutie”

 

It took Donghyuck some will power to not turn around and push him away, but instead he clenched his teeth and faced the boy. Of course it was the annoying punk, wearing the same beanie from the day before. He had a dumb grin on his face, and was holding a tray of food with both hands.

 

“Go away” Donghyuck groaned, clearly rolling his eyes for the other to see.

 

“You aren’t happy to see me again, cutie?” Mark giggled, moving his tray to knock it against Donghyuck’s. However, he did it a little too harshly, sending the cup of water all over the white rice and onto the sleeve of his sweater. “Oh shit”

 

“You idiot!” Donghyuck stared at him in disbelief. “You really have no common sense, do you?”

 

Mark froze for a second. Nothing but a guilt ridden face staring at Donghyuck, he poked out a bottom lip, before reaching and grabbing the edge of the blue tray in Donghyuck’s hands.

 

“Here, you can have mine” He tugged at the blue tray, but Donghyuck simply narrowed his eyes at him. “I haven’t infected it, just take it”

 

Though he was hesitant at the other being so kind for no reason, he realised the grip and swapped over the trays. Donghyuck couldn’t help but admit he felt grateful by the others selfless action, and he tried to ignore the warmth that settled into his chest. “Thanks, I guess”

 

“So” Mark started talking again, scooting even closer to Donghyuck’s body. “You owe me now”

 

“Excuse me? Owe you what?” He rolled his eyes and stepped forward to let the lunch lady place a small bowl of chicken soup on his plate. “You are the one who ruined my rice, it was the least you could do”

 

Mark released another string of shy giggles, following Donghyuck like a shadow to the cutlery section at the end of the food stands.

It looked like he was taking a few seconds to form his words, and Donghyuck could see his hands shaking lightly as he reached for a pair of chopsticks and some napkins. 

 

“I mean” Donghyuck heard him gulp between his words. “Y-you could give me your number”

 

“My number?” Donghyuck gasped, spinning on his heels. He had caught the attention of other students, who had their eyes glued on the unlikely pair.

Even Donghyuck knew they looked strange in each others presence; Mark was taller than him, had coloured hair, a dirty face and his scrawny body was draped in a star wars hoodie. In contrast, Donghyuck was the picture of a rich Seoul kid; chocolate brown hair parted in the middle, his skin glowing and wearing the most expensive brands of clothes. “Listen, Mark. I am not in the mood for your games”

 

“I’m not playing games, Hyuck” The other had a soft, almost concerned expression across his face. “Whats wrong, did something happen?”

 

Donghyuck was ready to throw another bratty comment back at the punk, before he caught his eyes. The look in Mark’s eyes shocked him slightly, because he really did look like he cared. Donghyuck remembered what he had thought when his friends didn’t listen to him, how he wanted somebody to rant to, just somebody to listen to him. He didn’t respond, his eyes fell to the ground.

 

“It doesn’t matter” He sighed, shaking his head. “I have to go, see you around punk”

 

Donghyuck span on his heels, ready to head back to his silent table. He only got one step forward when he felt a hand grab at his shoulders, pulling him back to where he was just a few seconds ago.

 

“I can tell somethings bothering you, if you don’t like talking about it here, I offered you my number” Mark set his tray on the cutlery stand as he pulled the  napkin from beside him. “Write your number here. I'll text you, then you can rant, I will listen to you”

 

Donghyuck watched in silence as Mark pulled a chewed up pen from his pocket, handing it to him with trembling hands. For the first time in a while, Donghyuck felt as though somebody really did care about him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

To his surprise, Donghyuck’s day got somewhat better.

After talking to Mark in the cafeteria, the weight that was sitting on his shoulders had seemed to have lifted. He told himself it was just the feeling of having someone comfort him, and not the person himself. Despite this, Donghyuck couldn’t seem to shake the image from his mind of the others wide concerned eyes, and his blushed cheeks when he had asked for his number. He had tried to ignore it, and felt thankful that he had two more classes that day to attend before being able to head home.

 

His day improved too when getting his most recent exam results back. Of course, he was top of his class like he was expecting, and he couldn’t wait to gloat to Renjun and Jaemin when he would see them the next day. He saw that Jaemin had not come first in his Oboe class and Renjun had come a shocking  _third_  in his cello class, which had never happened before. 

 

Due to this, he retuned home with a smile on his face. He thanked his driver as he closed the door of the black vehicle and skipped towards the stone mansion that stood before him. He sighed happily when he thought of his Father’s reaction to his results, but his smile seemed to falter when he spotted a familiar red Porsche sitting next to his fathers car; Doyoung was home early.

 

Feeling slightly slumped at the thought of his step brother being home, he continued forward and pushed himself into the house. He bowed at the butler who stood by the door before asking where his father was and then started to head in the direction of his office upon the butlers response.

 

However, his time with his father didn’t go to plan. At first, his father didn't even want to him to come into his office, he yelled that he was too busy with his emails. But, Donghyuck was stubborn and forced his way in, but even upon telling his father his news; he didn’t care. His father just did not care at all and Donghyuck told himself to not think so much about it, he was used to this type of reaction when he wanted to speak with his father. After cursing his way from the office, Donghyuck stormed across the house, throwing his bag onto the black kitchen island.

The only effective way to calm himself down was by eating, so he didn’t waste anytime before wrapping a hand over the fridge door and swinging it open so hastily that the door hit against the counter behind it with a crackling bang that echoed across the wide open kitchen. 

 

He was searching for the strawberries he had been saving for the past two days, they were his favourite fruit and he, very hesitantly, spent some of his allowance on two big boxes of the freshest strawberries in Seoul. Thats why when he couldn’t find them, he could feel his blood boiling again, and the heat rising to his ears.

 

“Hey nerd” A voice echoed through the empty kitchen, he didn’t have to look to who it was. He could feel Doyoung walking behind him and perching himself on the edge of the island. “Looking for something?”

 

Donghyuck span on his heels, facing the older. He scoffed at his appearance, his black hair was a absolute mess, and he was wearing fluffy pink pyjamas; it wasn’t his usual, Gucci dripped outfit most people were used to him wearing. Donghyuck narrowed his eyes, and watched the other lean his head back and laugh.

 

“Did you touch the strawberries?” He asked, his face furrowed and red. Donghyuck turned and slammed the fridge door behind him. “Those were mine!”

 

“Maybe me and Jungwoo ate them” Doyoung shrugged. “Why are you so mad over strawberries? You need to calm down”

 

Donghyuck really did not know how to respond. He knew that Doyoung was in some sense right; it was only strawberries and most people would not get mad at something so silly.

Nevertheless, it was another blow to his bad day, another blow to his short lived happiness and it pushed him straight back into his state of anger and sadness that he had faced all morning.

 

Without another word, he slid his bag over his shoulder and strode of to his bedroom, ignore the calls from Doyoung behind him. He made sure to slam the door of his room behind him, and collapsed onto the bed that stood in the middle of the room.

 

Loosing track of time all together, he simply laid there, he slid under the covers still dressed in his damp clothes and stared up at the grey lampshade that hung high above him. He hadn’t even noticed that the sun had begun to set, engulfing his white and grey room in a cast of orange sunlight. Truthfully, he knew he was being slightly overdramatic, but he didn’t have any way to solve his mood.

He felt like running around the city with his friends, or grabbing ice cream, or watching a movie; but he just couldn’t.

 

That wasn’t the life he could live. He had to be the perfect, son of the most powerful ceo in Korea, top model student Lee Donghyuck. He couldn’t go running around the streets, he couldn’t go to parties, it would ruin his families reputation. Days like this was the times he would regret staying here, staying with his father instead of following his mother to Busan. It was his lifestyle in Seoul that had turned him into the spoilt snob he had become.

 

As he lay there, he closed his eyes before they could brim with tears. He could feel himself drifting off to sleep, but his body was interrupted by the buzzing of his iPhone that lay on his pillow beside him.

 

Truthfully, he didn’t even want to check what it was, he assumed it was Renjun or Jaemin texting their group chat, probably to ask for help with work or brag about their results. When Donghyuck actually had the will power to roll over on his side and grab his phone, he was slightly shocked by the message he had received.

 

**_From:_ ** _unknown number:_ _Hey… It’s Mark._

**_F_ ** **_rom:_ ** _u_ _nknown number:_ _from school_

**_From:_ ** _unknown number:_ _you don’t have to reply to me… just wondering if you still need someone to talk to?_

 

Not sure if he was seeing correctly, Donghyuck let his eyes scan over the messages a few times before attempting to write some type of reply back. Truthfully, he did not know exactly why his cheeks heated up at the message, he felt like Mark had some type of telepathic skill to know that he _did_ need to rant about something.

 

Donghyuck let his fingers hover the keyboard for a few seconds, trying to think of an appropriate contact name for the other. He quickly remembered his two toned orange hair, and simply typed out something he found appropriate.

 

**_To:_ ** _emo apricot_ _: look what the cat dragged in_

**_To:_ ** _emo apricot:_ _hey.. you messaged at just the right time. I was just gonna start crying…. lol!_

 

He felt awkward texting with him, as he barely knew him, and he had already been super rude to him more than once. But, to his surprise he got a response within 10 seconds, which made him nearly drop his phone on his face.

 

**_From:_ ** _emo apricot:_ _Cant tell if your flirting with me or just being a bitch ;)_

**_From:_** _emo apricot:_ _I’m glad I stopped you from crying. You can rant if you want, cutie_

 

After taking a deep breath to try and get his heart to stop palpitating at the flirty text he had received from the other, he did as the other suggested.

Donghyuck sent a huge message, spilling his guts about everything that had bothered him. And, for once, someone listened.

 

He could tell Mark responded carefully, making sure he could comfort donghyuck in the best way without sounding condescending.

Donghyuck found himself texting with him all night, after Mark had successfully cheered Donghyuck up, they found themselves just talking about the most random stuff, like fruits and their favourite songs and even the classes they took at school.

He learnt that Mark took guitar, piano and history of Music, despite the fact he wasn't such a huge fan of the history spec. He also learnt that Mark loved watermelon, and was eating some while texting Donghyuck. 

Donghyuck disliked how nice it felt to have someone just to talk to. He disliked that he found himself enjoying talking to someone like the punk, and he hated feeling sad at the last message Mark sent him that night, he truthfully wanted to stay awake and talk with somebody all night — he didn’t want to admit to himself that in reality, he just wanted to talk to _Mark_ all night. 

 

**_From:_ ** _emo apricot:_ _I need to sleep, goodnight, I hope you feel better now :)_

**_From:_ ** _emo apricot:_ _Meet me tomorrow at lunch, we can talk better then. How does the auditorium sound?_

 

**_To:_ ** _emo apricot_ _: maybe ill grace you with my presence._

**_To:_ ** _emo apricot_ _: goodnight punk_

 

After sending the text, he knew that Mark was probably already fast asleep, and he locked his phone. Donghyuck felt content at that moment, and he rolled over in his bed and closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Drool coated his palm, and it was only when he received an elbow to his ribs was when he perked back awake and opened his half shut eyes. Donghyuck had completely zoned out from whatever his teacher was saying, again.

 

The student that had elbowed him spoke as the teacher disappeared to the back of the class to help one of the female singers hit a certain note she had _clearly_ been struggling with.

 

“Dude” The boy snorted, running a hand through his dry lilic hair. “You keep falling asleep, were you up partying all night? Thats not like Mr snob Donghyuck”

 

Donghyuck kicked his shin under the table, resulting in a loud yell from the other. He knew he was only kidding, he was one of the punks that had somehow scored 99 points on an oral exam and was moved into Donghyuck’s high skilled singing class. It had annoyed him at first, seeing the small punk stroll into _his_ classroom with florescent purple hair and a red leather jacket.

Donghyuck hadn’t liked him at first, until he had been paired with him for a duet song, and he learnt that the Chinese boy was extremely funny. 

“Chenle, don’t be so absurd” Donghyuck replied, quickly pretending to warm up his voice when the teacher walked past. “You know I’m not the type to party”

 

Donghyuck was trying his hardest not blush, because he was quickly reminded of his long winded late night conversation with Mark, and how he had to meet up with today.

 

“You look pretty tired yourself” Diverting the topic from himself, he changed it to Chenle instead. “What were you doing all night?”

The purple haired boy shrugged, placing his pencil back onto his paper. “I was at band practice all night, I had to learn the lyrics for a new song”

 

Donghyuck had forgot that Chenle was in one of the bands at the school, seeing as he rarely saw Chenle hanging out with anyone other than his blue haired boyfriend and they normally sat together at the back of the cafeteria or out in the feild at lunch under the apple tree alone. Donghyuck envied their close relationship, slightly. 

 

“I don’t know anything about your band” Donghyuck piped up. “I’ve never seen you guys perform together”

 

The other shrugged, not looking up from his notes. “I am the lead singer obviously”

 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes, and kicked the other from under the table. “No seriously, whose in your band? That blue haired guy?”

 

“My _boyfriend_ has a _name,_ Donghyuck” Chenle scoffed. “And yes, Jisung plays bass for us”

 

“Bass? Who else is in your little emo crew?” Donghyuck pressed on. Chenle rose a brow, it wasn’t like him to actually want to talk in so much depth with somebody. He secretly knew the reason he wanted to know more about the band was because he knew Mark was involved with that type of crew, he wanted to know more about the alternative side of the school. He didn’t admit that to Chenle, though. 

 

“There's Lee Jeno who plays the drums” Chenle continued, Donghyuck raised his eyebrows to signal that he wasn’t familiar with the person he had just mentioned. “You know, he’s the tall one with black hair, the big nose? The super hot one? He barged into class once to remind me to bring his apple at lunch?”

 

“Oh _him?_ He’s the douche bag who rides his skateboard through the halls right?” Chenle nodded, and rolled his eyes. “Who else?”

 

“Mark Lee, lead guitarist” Donghyuck choked on his spit when the name leaves Chenle’s mouth, but he quickly covers it up with a fake cough despite the fact his cheeks had turned a bright scarlet tone. “You know him, right?”

 

“Me? Know Mark?” He rose an eyebrow at the younger, ignoring the glimpse of excitement that settled in his chest thinking of Mark mentioning him to Chenle.

 

Donghyuck rested his chin in his palms to disguise the fact his cheeks were blushing. Part of him felt confused, Mark was one hundred percent not his type, he was the complete opposite actually. Despite this, there was something about the way he _cared_ and listened and how he treated him so kindly, how he had managed kept a smile on his face until he fell asleep that was making Donghyuck question himself. That, and the butterflies in his stomach every time he thought of the other boy's round eyes and bright smile.

 

“I saw him talking to you at lunch yesterday” The Chinese boy shrugged, not thinking so much of it. “And at practice last night he kept texting someone and when I stole his phone to see who was distracting him, it said hyuckkie so I’m assuming thats you”

 

Donghyuck huffed, about to reply when the bell signalling that class was ending rang through the classroom.

Chenle swung his studded indigo rucksack over his flannel clad shoulder, shouting a loud goodbye to Donghyuck before disappearing within the crowd of students rushing to leave the singing classroom.

 

Donghyuck however stayed seated for a few more minutes, he knew he had to leave at some point, his teacher was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He was sitting twirling his thumbs together and banging his foot against the floor, he didn’t like that he felt so _nervous._

 

Donghyuck wondered if he really wanted to meet with Mark. The stubbornness inside of him was telling him he shouldn’t communicate with someone of the likes of him, but he was also telling himself that he enjoyed speaking to someone so different to his other friends.

 

After he had peeled himself from the seat, hooked his violin case over his shoulder and left the classroom, he descended quickly towards the auditorium that was situated on the ground flaw of the school.

He ignored the gazes of students as he pushed past crowds of people, he had his usual snarky frown on his face, muttering a few “move out my way” to bright coloured haired students who were slowing him down.

 

It didn’t take him more than a few minutes to arrive at the auditorium, he entered quickly, making sure to slam the door behind him to make it known that he had arrived, but he heard no response.

 

“Annoying” he muttered, the entire hall was in darkness apart from the stage at the end of the room, it was illuminated brightly, the soft wood from the stage glowed and the velvet curtains behind were tucked away tightly behind the resplendent ropes. “He is late”

 

Donghyuck made his way though the gaps in the seating area and headed towards the stage. He began climbing the stairs when he noticed the large guitar case sitting by the grand piano, and the yellow flannel that was laying on the ground.

 

“Oh! You actually turned up” The loud voice shocked him, pulling his attention to the other side of the stage. Mark was skipping over to him, his frail body was drowned in a long navy jumper that had rips in the side. “I went to pee, sorry”

 

“Right” Donghyuck's eyes casted towards the ground, as he continued to walk up the stairs. He could hear Mark sit on the floor, releasing a small puff of air as he stretched out his legs. 

However, Donghyuck stayed standing awkwardly with his eyes pointing anywhere but the punk “Why are you sat down?”

 

“Well, we aren’t gonna eat standing up are we?” Mark laughed, glancing up at Donghyuck with wide eyes, waiting for him to sit down along with him. “Did you bring lunch?”

 

Truthfully, he didn’t remember to pack a lunch. He had stuffed a fruit and yogurt breakfast bar that he didn't even like so much into his back pack this morning, but he didn’t want to sound annoying so he simply hummed in response, before shuffling towards Mark sitting on the ground.

 

It was silent for a second and Donghyuck could feel the awkwardness rising in the air, he wasn’t sure what they were supposed to talk about so he couldn't think of a conversation starter.

 

“Are you feeling better now?” Mark quickly saved the silence, and Donghyuck pulled his gaze from the floor and stared at the other boy, he’d be lying if he didn’t think the other looked cute today, his orange hair looked as though it had been curled with mousse and he had clearly put on some tinted lip balm. But Donghyuck also be lying if he said he hadn’t done the same and made the teeniest bit of effort to look better. 

 

“Wouldn’t _you_ like to know” Donghyuck scoffed, so used to responding to others in a brass way. He saw the small smile on Mark’s lips falter and his bright eyes shift towards the ground and he instantly felt guilty.

 

“Donghyuck” Mark sighed, rubbing the scruff of his neck. “You don’t have to put up this snobby front when your with me, I’m not going to judge you”

 

“I’m sorry, I’m just so used to being like that” Donghyuck replied, now with a softness to his voice. “Thank you for asking, I feel a little better now, after having someone to talk to”

 

It fell silent again, the only sound came from the noises of Mark rustling through his worn out bag pack. He pulled out a wrapped sandwich, which suddenly made Donghyuck’s stomach erupt in hunger. He hoped that Mark hadn’t heard it, but he heard it quickly and looked in the violinists direction.

 

“You sound hungry, what did you bring for lunch?” He looked at Donghyuck, who simply held up his small fruit bar. Mark grimaced and let out a small giggle. “Here, you like chicken?”

 

The punk pulled at the sandwich so that it broke down the middle and held it out towards him. Donghyuck stared at It for a second, his eyes ghosted towards Mark’s face and back towards the bread inside his fingers before reaching out and taking it softly.

 

His fingers brushed Mark’s skinny ones and they both looked at each other awkwardly with pink cheeks, and Donghyuck muttered out a small “Thanks” before beginning to chew at it.

“So” Mark said through a mouthful of sandwich. “You’re pretty good at violin then?”

 

“You shouldn’t talk with your mouthful, Mark” Donghyuck replied, it was a snarky comment, but his voice this time around was laced with a more playful tone than before. “I am very good at the violin, truthfully”

 

“Don’t be so pretentious, Hyuck, everyone talks with their mouth full” Mark shot back, a small smile gracing his features. “I love the sound of the violin, you’ll have to prove this to me sometime soon”

 

For the first time in a while, Donghyuck laughed, he rolled his head back and let out a laugh, to which Mark followed. What Mark said wasn’t actually entirely funny, but it was this whole situation, and the way Mark looked as he tried to insult Donghyuck by calling him pretentious.

 

“Are you still mad about your brother stealing your strawberries?” From the look Donghyuck shot him, it was evident of what his answer with going to be. “Thats good then, wait not good, but”

 

With a raised eyebrow, Donghyuck watched Mark open his bag once more. This time however, he pulled out a round pot, that was full to the brim of bright ruby-red, fresh strawberries.

 

“You didn’t have to buy these” Donghyuck smiled softly, his heart fluttering inside his chest as Mark placed the strawberries in the middle of where they were sitting on the ground.

 

As he pulled off the plastic casing that sat on the top of the pot, Mark hummed and his eyes scanned it for a few seconds, before he dug his fingers inside and pulled out the biggest strawberry he could see, and held it in the direction of Donghyuck.

 

“I didn’t _have_ to” Mark smiled as Donghyuck’s fingers brushed his own as he grabbed the fruit from his hands, his chest fluttered “But I am a nice person, and you sounded really mad over the strawberries”

 

It was silent, only the sound of a small sigh leaving the nose of Donghyuck as he stood in a state of shock and awe at the others actions.

 

Mark seemed to notice the unfamiliarity that suddenly ran through Donghyuck’s body, he knew the violinist was scared of this entire situation because he was new and different than the other people he knew — and although it was foreign to them, both boys couldn’t deny the tension that filled the air. It was different to the awkward, harsh tension that surrounded them when they first met, the heat that radiated from within Donhyuck had somewhat burnt out, leaving nothing but the warm buzz of new comfortability within themselves.

 

“Are you gonna actually eat the strawberry or just stare at it for the rest of the day?” Mark joked, cutting away at the new found silence. “Why did your brother eat your fruit anyway? He ate two whole boxes, that’s extremely selfish”

 

Donghyuck let out a smile before biting the end of the strawberry, scrunching up his nose with his eyes pointed in Mark’s direction as a way of saying ‘happy now?’, which only admitted more giggles from the guitarist, who was now leant against the wooden stage on his elbows.

 

“He ate them with Jungwoo” He sighed after swallowing down the fresh fruit. Mark raised an eyebrow urging the other to explain who the new name belonged to. “Jungwoo is this annoying medical student that always comes over, i’m pretty sure they are into each other, god knows what they used all those strawberries for”

 

Donghyuck stuck a finger in his mouth and fake gagged, before following the way Mark had leaned back, and continued to plop strawberries into his mouth. They weren’t as fresh as the ones Donghyuck usually brought, but part of him couldn’t find it in him to even care.

 

“Oh right, that must be annoying” Mark pouted, and Donghyuck has to hold back the urge to scream at the way his plush bottom lip stuck out in the cutest way possible. “And your parents, they don’t tell him to you know, cut it out? Have some respect for you or something?”

 

“Doyoung is my step-brother, we aren’t related by blood. He has my step-mother wrapped around his finger” Donghyuck started, feeling anger suddenly bubbling inside of his chest. “And my father doesn’t leave his office often enough to even see anything that goes on”

 

Mark hummed softly, urging the other to continue with a soft approach, it was obvious that Donghyuck was starting to falter, his chest rising more heavily than before and his ears turning a soft shade of ruby.

 

“And besides, it’s not like i’m not as bad” Donghyuck admitted, shrugging his shoulders and ate another bite of soft strawberry. “I’m rude too, i yell at Doyoung, i yell at my step mother, i act as though I'm better than them. Maybe i deserve it”

 

“But don’t you just do that as a way to cope?” Mark said, his voice soft and gentle as he didn’t want to anger the other any further. “When your like this, you seem happy and fine but you sometimes act as though you’re different to others”

 

This hit Donghyuck in the throat, because he was hit with the true reality of his ways. He did use this persona as a front, he did just want to be happy and fine but he just _couldn’t_ because he knew he had already gone to far.

 

“Yeah” He nodded, eyes scanning across Mark’s face for a short second.

 

 

Donghyuck hadn’t even noticed that Mark had scooted closer to him while he was speaking. He only noticed when he felt their shoulders brush against once another, and the others breath was a lot louder than before. For some reason, the anger that had built within him just before was felt floundering away, disappearing into thin air when he felt the others head lean against his shoulder.

 

“I can beat him up, if you like” Mark joked, his shoulder knocking against Donghyuck’s as he laughed. Donghyuck would’ve normally complained that the punk’s dirty beanie was touching his three hundred dollar sweater, but this time it didn’t even cross his mind.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Of course, Donghyuck was bound to get some weird looks today. He didn’t know why, but he woke up in an excellent mood and decided to wear the brightest orange sweater he had stolen from Doyoung’s packed wardrobe and threw on a tight pair of jeans he hadn’t worn for almost five years. It was very much a contrast to what he would normally wear, the pastels and black slacks, and today he hadn’t even combed his hair.

 

That’s why, walking down the corridor of the bottom floor, people were staring. Wondering, why on earth is the richest kid in school dressed like... _that?_

Some of his classmates, especially Chenle in singing class first period, questioned him. Chenle asked him if ‘his maid had forgot to dry clean his clothes’ over the weekend.

 

Despite this, Donghyuck felt good. He told himself he felt good because of his own actions and inner confidence; but in reality he knew felt cool and comfortable because of the text Mark had sent him that morning, urging him to wear something more edgy for at least one day.

 

As Donghyuck entered the cafeteria, he spotted Renjun sitting in their usual table at the back of the room. He wasn’t hard to miss, his blue beret was visible from the far end of the cafeteria, but Jaemin wasn’t beside him which was strange, they were usually joined at the hip.

Although he could see his friend alone, Donghyuck couldn’t resist his eyes from travelling towards a tall, thin body who was leaning over a neighbouring table. He felt his chest tingle at the sight of the beanie covered boy, his head leaning backwards as he laughed at something somebody else was saying.

 

Everything else seemed to blur apart from the figure of the punk. Donghyuck felt like he had been staring for too long, and his attention was only recovered when he felt a small hand grabbing at the edge of his fluorescent jumper.

Before he even had time to react, his body was pulled down onto a bench and he found himself sitting on the edge of a full table of unfamiliar faces, bright haired people were staring in his face, and Donghyuck found himself unreliable to even form any type of worded expression.

 

“Hey!” Chenle screamed into his ear, releasing a fist full of fabric, it suddenly made a little more sense when he turned to face a lilac headed boy staring at him with a grin. “Sorry to grab you, i was trying to get your attention but you were staring at something”

 

“And why did you need to bother me?” Donghyuck scoffed, and he could see the other occupants at the table raise their eyebrows at his brass demeanour. Although, he was only kidding around, partly, this time. He still felt slightly embarrassed, and intimidated by the punk’s staring at him.

 

“Damn” Chenle joked, however his voice trailed of slightly at the sound of a food tray scraping across the table, and a chair moving against the floor.

 

Donghyuck looked up and was met with a very confused looking Mark, who was eyeing up the situation as he slowly sat down at the table.

 

Donghyuck saw the other nod towards his phone once he sat down completely, indicating for the other to text him once he’s left the table. Mark began smiling a little, his foot accidentally brushing against the violinist under the table. Donghyuck couldn’t help the blush that rose against his soft cheeks, and hid them by resting s hand against his face.

The friends on the table seemed to notice the small contact between the two boys, because a strong featured black haired boy sitting at the end coughed, trying to catch Mark’s attention.

 

“Do you guys know each other?” He asked, when he spoke Donghyuck quickly recognised it to be Lee Jeno, the guy who rides his skateboard down the halls of the school. He seemed very confused, as the rest of the table stared at them nonchalantly.

 

Mark went to speak at the same time as Donghyuck, both their eyes slightly open in some sort of surprise at the question. He could hear the faint “y” start to leave the others smiling mouth, and Donghyuck doesn’t know why, but he panicked.

 

A million thoughts ran through his head at the thought of others knowing about his and Marks new found relationship. His body froze as though he was suddenly in the coldest hall ever, his eyes widened as though he has seen a ghost. He fully panicked at the situation, and spoke before even letting a thought run through his head; he said no.

 

It wasn’t just a quite no, it was loud, he almost shouted it for the entire cafeteria to hear. The amount of disgust that was laced within his voice was enough to make Mark’s head snap towards him, and his eyebrows furrow in sadness and confusion and the response.

 

“oh well” Jeno continued, his eyes now too busy staring at his cellphone screen for him to notice the hurt expression running across Mark’s face. Pangs of guilt were jabbing though Donghyuck’s chest, punching his gut and making bile rise to his mouth. “You seemed like you did”

 

Him and Mark had become somewhat close since their lunch meeting a few weeks ago in the auditorium. Donghyuck had found himself texting the punk until three am almost every single night, he found letters in his locker from the other and they even continued to meet during lunch every few days, he thought he had made a new friend, a new companion to get him through the year; but he still couldn’t help feeling embarrassed, slightly ashamed. Him and Mark were too different.

 

Truthfully, Donghyuck panicked because he knew he felt more than a friendship affection towards the other boy. They often found themselves being touchy, Mark had a new habit of playing with Donhyuck’s fingers, and hooking their feet together. Donghyuck knew this was something two ‘Bros’ wouldn’t do. He knew that the feelings that pranced around his body when he was with the other was more than some type of emotion from friendship, but he didn’t admit it, not even to himself. He couldn’t crush on someone like _Mark_ , a dirty punk with no money and a rocker attitude.

 

Donhyuck’s had only looked back up from the table beneath him when he felt a hand tugging at his arm, to snap him out of his zone.

When Donghyuck sighed and looked up, Mark was no longer opposite him, but only an empty space from where he was just sat.

 

“So anyway” Chenle whined into Donghyuck’s ear, the rest of the table were chatting happily, completely unaware of what had just happened. Jisung was banging and hand against the table and Jeno was playing lousy music from his phone. “I only pulled you over to ask you if you could send me the notes from the lesson i missed a few weeks ago”

 

“Yeah, yeah that’s fine” Donghyuck’s voice was quiet, barely audible from the commotion coming from the table. He wasn’t sure if he should just stand up and leave, go back to his usual table or sit and hope for Mark to come back so he could attempt to explain himself.

 

He didn’t have much choice though, a few minutes later he heard a familiar voice standing behind him and he was turning to face a very perplexed Jaemin, standing with his head cocked and a tray of food in his hand.

 

“Donghyuck?” Jaemin’s voice caught the attention of the band on the table, and all eyes peeled to look at the oboe player. “What are you doing? Why are you sat with these losers?”

 

With a gulp, Donghyuck muttered out another response he soon regretted from the pout that appeared on Chenle’s face. “I don’t know. I was just getting notes from Chenle because he’s in my class”

 

And without muttering another word to the punks, he stood up slowly and followed Jaemin towards his usual, quiet table at the back of the hall, his eyes not leaving the floor the entire time.

 

* * *

 

 

Donghyuck felt a strange looming of guilt settled over his shoulders for the rest of his day. He didn’t speak at the lunch table with Renjun and Jaemin, only once as he muttered into the crook of this shoulder telling them to shut up. 

He felt heavy, his feet hurt as he dragged himself to class. His head had a constant pang of pain, most likely from desperately trying not to cry.

 

It was so strange to him, this feeling of delinquency that set home inside him brain. It wasn’t often that he said or did something he would regret, and he wouldn’t even thought twice about his decision to deny their friendship if it wasn’t for the expression of despondency that fell over the guitarists face as the simple word left his mouth.

 

He let his feet drag across the floor as he exited his violin class. He felt so thankful that he would be able to go home, the last class of the day moved terribly slowly, the agonising weight on his shoulders was enough for him to beg his teacher to let him leave five minutes early. However he regretted it once he saw a familiar face stocking chord learning books into his brightly vandalised locker, that was on the same corridor as Donghyuck’s violin classroom.

 

The apricot haired boy didn’t notice Donghyuck’s presence, despite the fact they were the only two students in the entire corridor.

Donghyuck couldn’t stop his feet from heading in the direction of the punk, a burning fire settling inside him once he spotted the other. He was desperate to tell Mark he was sorry, that he didn’t want to upset him and he wanted to rid himself of the awful hindrances that were laying rest in his mind.

 

“Mark” Donghyuck breathed out once he reached he other, his voice came out a mere whisper.

Mark had a similar expression on his face, his eyes seemed slightly red and swollen, and his bottom lip looked as though it had been chewed on recently, the edge of his cupid’s bow a deep shade of ruby, it had been bleeding and Donghyuck had no way to stop the sorrow and abundance he felt from this because he knew it was his fault.

 

“Leave me alone” Mark slammed his locker shut and the sound of the steel colliding rattled through the empty hall. “Aren’t you too good to hang around with me?”

 

Donghyuck felt a lump build within his throat when the other turned on his heels to look at him. His eyebrows furrowed and the ends of ears had turned red; Donghyuck had never seen Mark like this. He was so used to the smiling, giggling Mark that he felt slightly shocked at the angry expression that had stolen his gentle features.

 

“Why would i be to good for you?” Donghyuck shook his head. “I know we are two completely different people but i thought we had already established that we can be friends”

 

“I thought so too, Hyuck” Mark sighed, hooking a hand around the handle of his guitar case, and heaving it from the ground. “But then why deny we are friends? Is it because i don’t wear five hundred dollar sweaters everyday, or own seven houses, or because i’m not in the orchestra with you and your other posh friends?”

 

The violinist felt as though a harsh wind had struck his chest. He was frozen on the spot, unable to form any type of words to reply because he knows everything Mark said was true in some aspect, and it hurt that the other knew it.

 

“I’m sorry, Mark” Was all he mustered up to say, he had nothing else he could say. 

 

His words were cut short by the bell ringing, and Mark sighed once more, his shoulders shrugging as students began to flock out from different rooms along the school, erupting the silent halls into a fit of boisterous noise. Mark began to walk away, he turned on his feet and took two steps away from the other but Donghyuck couldn’t stop himself from reaching forward and wrapping a hand around his hoodie-clad arm, and tugging him back to face him.

 

“Come over later” He gushed out, having to raise his voice over the bubble of voices. “I’ll text you my address, we can sort this out then”

 

Mark faltered for a moment, his eyes locking to the hand that was wrapped around his forearm. But then, his eyes softened. And he smiled just slightly and muttered a small “Maybe” before disappearing into the crowd of students.

 

* * *

 

 

Donghyuck hasn’t actually expected Mark to turn up that night.

So when he was banging on Donghyuck’s front door — which made no sense because the house had a very huge bell to ring — Donghyuck was flying down the stairs and attaching his hand to the door handle before Doyoung could even stand up from the living room sofa.

 

He hadn’t expected to see Mark leaning against the door frame, his angry expression now hidden by a smug smile and wandering eyes. He looked just as ragged as ever, his usual beanie on his head and the flannel Donghyuck had seen him wear seventy three times already.

 

“So, you really are rich then” Mark was gawking a little as he looked into the home, eyes wandering over the marvel stair casing and grand piano that sat tall in the walk in hallway. “Nice”

 

Donghyuck simply nodded, suddenly feeling shy in his light pink fluffy pyjama bottoms. “You actually turned up”

 

“Well” Mark started, following Donghyuck into the house. The door slammed behind him, but he didn’t flinch. Donghyuck saw that his usual backpack looked awfully larger today, sticking out from his small body. “I had an idea. Kinda like revenge”

 

“revenge?” The violinist was confused, an eyebrow raised on his head like it was permanently stuck whenever the punk was around him.

 

Mark ignored him, and simply pointed forward to indicate that Donghyuck should lead the way, and so he did. He did, trailing up the stairs with Mark behind him. Once they reached the upstairs landing, Donghyuck found Mark poking his head into every single door he found, gasps leaving his mouth every time he saw something new and exciting.

 

“This is a _bathroom?_ The bathtub is bigger than my bedroom” Mark had his head stuck inside one of the white doors, one leg in the air to balance himself. Donhyuck noticed his boots had holes in the soles. “We could easily bathe together in there”

 

“shut up” Donghyuck threw a hand forward to hit the others arm as his ears turned red. He decided it would be much quicker just to grab his wrist and drag him through the home to his bedroom that was much too far away than what he needed in this moment.

 

Upon arrival at the bedroom, Donghyuck had to hush Mark several times because he just couldn’t stop himself from going “wow” at every single little detail, his body moving about the room at sixty miles an hour, picking things up and expecting them with wide curious eyes and even yelling about the fact Donghyuck had an ensuite to himself.

After almost ten minutes of this lavish behaviour, Mark simply grew tired and plopped himself on the edge of he bed, his hands working themselves through the soft cashmere bedspread beneath him. Donghyuck had to fist his own hands into balls to stop himself from reaching forward to hold the others hand, his heart clenching at the thought of his small hands linking with the others much larger.

 

“So, punk” Donghyuck muttered, breaking the warm silence that filled the room. “Care to explain what your revenge is?”

 

“It’s not so much a revenge” Mark explained, edges of his lips twitching in excitement. “Well, maybe you’ll hate it. But i think it’s a great idea”

 

Mark grabbed his oozing backpack from the floor and unzipped it quicker than Donghyuck had time to blink, and hung it upside down. Large boxes toppled out onto the ground, some smaller than others and he noticed a pair of small silver scissors, gloves and some sort of brush mixed about the layers of cardboard.

 

“We are dying our hair” Mark clapped, face red from pure joy and excitement, yet Donghyuck wasn’t convinced. “Red for you, it will totally compliment your skin tone”

 

“Red?” Donghyuck scoffed, crossing his arms. Although he attempted to sound stand-offish, he secretly knew deep inside that this was completely new and exciting for him. “i thought you were planning on murdering me”

 

“Maybe later” Mark shrugged, picking up one of the larger boxes that had a picture of a girl with white hair on the front. “We will need to bleach it, then pop on the red after”

 

In all honesty, Mark thought it wouldn’t have been to easy to convince Donghyuck to let him to it. But not even twenty minutes later, Donghyuck was sitting on a chair with a towel draped over his shoulders and a tall punk painting a white substance through his hair.

 

“It burns” Donghycuk groaned, but his whining was cut short when he felt the others hand resting on his neck. He hated that any type of skin-to-skin with the other boy could make him so flustered, and he prayed that Mark wouldn’t notice the tops of his ears turning red.

 

“Stay still, idiot” Mark laughed, now using his glove covered fingers to work the bleach into his hair, Donghyuck found himself making a small “ooo” sound as the others fingers tingled against his scalp, and Mark quickly moved his hands away and clapped them together, indicating that the bleach was all set. “Let me check the front”

 

Mark shuffled forward, leaning down to match Donghyuck’s height.

His face was rather close to his own, his eyes scanning his face quickly before the tip of his nose turned red and he cast his eyes to the edge of Donghyuck’s scalp. Both his hands were working at moving the bleach through the top of the hair, his tongue poking out from between his lips in concentration.

 

Donghyuck gulped, feeling a heat rising within his chest and reaching his cheeks. He had never been _this_ close to Mark before, so close that he could feel the warm minty breath of the other and see the small cut above his eyebrow.

 

“What happened to your eye?” Donghyuck asked, his voice had suddenly turned timid and shy as he poked a finger to where the cut was.

Marks eyes turned downwards to look into his own, and Donghyuck felt as though time had stopped for a moment. Mark didn’t reply straight away, his eyes lingered within Donghyuck’s for thirty seconds and then trailing down to Donghyuck’s lips.

His heart had stopped, it was rattling inside his chest as he felt Mark shift forward, his hands falling down slightly to land on the others cheeks and his lips ghosting his own.

 

Donghyuck prepared himself to feel another pair of lips on his own, his eyelids fluttering shut and waiting for Mark to press his lips against his own. But that moment didn’t come.

Time had suddenly started ticking again as his bedroom door had been flown open, and the footsteps of another was enough to make Mark jump away from Donghyuck in embarrassment and shock.

 

Doyoung was stood at the edge of the room, his eyes widened in abash. He was dressed up smart, a white shirt and black suspenders but his face was still red from sleep — and embarrassment to the scene he had just interrupted — so he was clearly not expecting to walk into a room with a stranger about to his his younger brother.

 

“Well shit” Doyoung shrugged, a small laugh rippling through the silence in the room. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your little kiss session”

 

“W-we weren’t kissing” Donghyuck quickly interjected, and he heard a small giggle escape the lips on Mark who was standing behind him. “He’s doing my hair”

 

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you Donghyuck’s boyfriend” Doyoung had now crossed his arms. “Dong, really, him?”

 

“Don’t be so rude” Donghyuck defended, he knew that Doyoung would leave some type of injust comment from the older, but he heard a sigh leave Mark’s mouth and he couldn’t help but stick up for him. “Just get out if your gonna be disrespectful”

 

“Jesus, what’s gotten into you, since when were you so big on equality?” Doyoung raised his eyebrows. “You can be friends with who you want i don’t care, i was just saying he’s not your type”

 

“Hi, i’m Mark” Donghyuck saw the other bow from the corner of his eye, and Doyoung bowed back. “It’s nice to meet you, your the brother who likes strawberries right?”

 

The playful tone to Mark’s voice made Donghyuck laugh, the confusion that ran over his step-brothers face was utterly amusing. It felt nice to have someone challenge Doyoung, seeing as he always bossed Donghyuck around.

“Anyway” The older scoffed, turning his head away from Mark altogether. “Where’s your eyeliner? I’m going out i need to borrow it”

 

* * *

 

 

What felt like three days later, Donghyuck had his head flipped over the sink with Marks hands working through the strands.

He could see the blood-red colour dripping down into the sink, and it made him extremely nervous yet excited. Marks hair was already finished, he only had to bleach it once because it was already a light orange and it was now a soft blonde colour. But Donghyuck had dark brown hair, so it took a total of three bleaching seasons to get it to the right colour to apply the red.

 

While waiting for the hair to lift, dry, and dye, him and Mark spent the time talking and playing, they watched one whole movie that was very boring, and Mark had ended up falling asleep on his shoulder and then they played three rounds of fortnight until they were both too angry to continue.

 

Mark had also convinced him to play a song on the violin for him, and Donghyuck played beautifully while Mark watched with wide eyes in awe and admiration. And once the song was over, Mark had fell on top of him and begged him to teach him how to play something.

 

That’s how they ended up with Donghyuck’s chest pressed against the others back, his chin resting on his shoulder. Donghyuck had his hand over Marks, helping him fit the chords. Of course they both had bright red cheeks because of this and Donghyuck was sure that he could feel the others hands shaking slightly.

 

Of course the violin lesson ended in them both falling onto Donghyuck’s bed in a fit of laugher, and the laughter was only stopped when the timer on Mark’s phone rang out to indicate that it was time to wash out the dye.

 

“It looks amazing” Mark was standing in front of him once more. His hands back in his hair as he adjusted the front of it into a nice style. “It really compliments your skin tone”

 

“Really?” Donghyuck’s voice was quiet in shyness. Every time he found himself close to Mark like this, hair chest would suddenly tighten and his voice would struggle to come out like normal. “I hope i don’t look like an idiot”

 

“You don’t” Mark smiled, the tips of his ears changing into the familiar blush colour that Donghyuck had seen more than once today. “You look adorable”

 

And that’s when Mark did something Donghyuck was not expecting. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss onto the end of his nose. It was short and was over within one second, but Donghyuck couldn’t surprise the gasp that left his throat when he felt the lips against his skin.

Mark seemed surprised at his own actions also, because his cheeks flared up into a dark red and his lips opened into a huge smile.

 

“Sorry” He gushed, quickly walking to the other side of the room to grab his phone, but Donghyuck knew he was just hiding his red cheeks. “I couldn’t help it. You just look so cute right then”

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Mark had ran over to Donghyuck as he exited his car, quickly grabbing his arm and smiling into his face with a very loud “Good morning!”

 

Donghyuck greeted him with a small hug, which obviously attracted the eyes of lingering students. Donghyuck would have normally cared, and thrown himself away from the punker boy within a few seconds. But now he had no reason to run away from the fact that him and Mark were friends — or even more than friends at this moment in time.

 

They walked in together, and Mark walked him to his locker and then to class. The violist could feel their hands brushing against one another as they walked shoulder to shoulder, but they were both too shy to reach out and link their fingers. Mark said goodbye to him at his classroom door, and told him that he will find him at lunchtime before he disappeared into the bustle of students.

 

Donghyuck was expecting people to be shocked at his new hair style. But the reactions from Jaemin and Renjun were slightly more exaggerate than he was prepared for.

 

Renjun was sat on his stool, fixing his cello strings with his eyes narrowed like he was angry at the instrument. Jaemin was cleaning the inside of his oboe with the most upmost attention and detail that they didn’t even notice the bright ruby red haired boy strutting over to the pair.

 

“Hey” Donghyuck greeted, only to have a mere hum in response from both boys. He was hoping that they would notice his new look, but they didn’t even look up from their respective instruments. “What do you think?”

 

When they both did look at him, the chinese boy had to do a strong double take before a loud gasp left both their mouths, and they were putting down their instruments and running over to the violinist.

 

“Yah!” Renjun gawked, as he grabbed the red strands in his hands and tugged on it a little too hard. “What did you do? It’s bright red!”

 

“Mark dyed it” Donghyuck said openly. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, it was the first time ever mentioning Mark to his two closest friends, and the confused expressions that ran across their features was why he feared telling them in the first place.

 

“Who the hell is Mark?” Jaemin scoffed, touching Donghyuck’s hair once before walking back to his oboe. “You have other friends?”

 

“Mark Lee, the band kid” Donghyuck continued, trying not to show that he was effected by Jaemin’s words. He tried to pull out his violin confidently but the colour on his cheeks told the others that he was shy. “He’s in the band with Chenle”

 

“You? Friends with him?” Renjun and Jaemin both started laughing. “Dong, your the epitome of a snobby rich kid and he’s so poor and dirty he’s worn the same boots everyday for the past two years”

 

The shyness inside Donghyuck’s body suddenly melted away, and he felt a warm anger bubbling inside of his chest. The usual rude Donghyuck was about to burst out at the words Renjun muttered, and he slammed his hands down against the desk in front of him.

 

“Why do you have to be so fucking rude?” Donghyuck’s voice came out louder than anyone had expected, attracting the other students in the room to turn their heads to face the trio.

Even Professor Moon fell silent at his spot at the front, his lips parting. “If you don’t like the fact i have other friends then fine, but don’t insult him like that”

 

Renjun and Jaemin’s eyes both widened in appall.

This wasn’t like the usual Donghyck, normally he would’ve agreed and laughed along but today that didn’t happen, instead he was angry and his eyebrows were furrowed and his face was a burning red. Jaemin parted his lips to say something but no words came out, only a small “okay then” was muttered from Renjun before they both turned around to face Professor Moon, who clapped his hands together to gain everyone’s attention.

 

He couldn’t focus on the lesson, his ears zoned out on everything that Professor Moon was saying. He was explaining how they were going to set up the orchestra formation for the upcoming concert but Donghyuck could only think of one thing in particular — Mark.

Wondering what the other was doing, he slid out his phone in attempt to find something else to do, rather than just sit here and listen to the teacher talk on and on and on.

 

 

**_To:_ ** _emo apricot_ _: what class are you in?_

**_To:_ ** _emo apricot_ _: i am upset and a little mad i need to ditch this lesson asap before i start crying :(_

 

He wasn’t expecting a reply so soon, knowing that Mark was most likely at school as well. But it was less than a minute before his phone made a small pinging noise and he saw the familiar contact name pop up on his screen.

 

 

**_From:_ ** _emo apricot_ _: what’s wrong? are you okay?_

**_From:_ ** _emo apricot_ _: i have a free period, but i have to do band practice. Come and watch me rock on guitar, i’m in the music room left wing :-)_

 

He didn’t waste any time and scooped up his violin and his bag, and began to walk out of the class. He ignored the whisper-shouting from Renjun and slammed the door behind him, and set himself in the direction of the music class.

 

* * *

 

 

Donghyuck realised that the punks of the school weren’t as bad as he had always thought they were. 

They were actually extremely funny, and he found himself laughing for the next two hours at everything they had to say and do. He realised that Jeno wasn’t so bad, and that he was amazing talented at playing the drums and super sweet and caring towards the younger boys in the room.

 

He also realised how extremely good looking Mark looked when he played the guitar. His fresh blonde hair swished around as he rocked his head to the the music that exhorted from the speakers, illuminating the room in a rich symphony of electric and punky tones. Mark was sweating a little too, his neck glistening under the harsh classroom lights; to which Donghyuck’s chest tightened at the sight. Marks fingers moved quickly to match the chords of the music, his bottom lip stuck between his top teeth and one of his legs placed on the amp at the front of the mini stage inside the classroom made Donghyuck clap in amazement once the song came to the end.

 

“What did you think?” Mark gasped, flopping down into the chair next to him and flipping his sweat-ridden hair with his hand. He was out of breath, and his cheeks were cerise. The other members of the band had flopped down onto the floor and were passing around a crumpled water bottle between them. “Did you like it?”

 

“It was amazing” Donghyuck said truthfully. As he spoke, he felt Mark’s hand land against his thigh, and it didn’t go a miss to the other boys either, Jeno’s eyes hovering over the contact and a small laugh leaving his lips. “I really underestimated you guys”

 

“You’re acting weird” Chenle spoke, his voice a little cracked from all the singing he had done. “You’re normally so mean, why are you being so nice?”

 

“It’s the new hair style” Mark interjected with a giggle before Donghyuck could even respond. As Mark answered his free hand that wasn’t upon his thigh ruffled at the ruby locks. “He’s been nicer since we became friends”

 

“Shut up” Donghyuck scoffed, hitting Mark’s shoulder. Though, he couldn’t deny what he said as it was the truth. “It’s different being friends with punks, i’m so used to Renjun and Jaemin”

 

The conversation ended with all boys laughing loudly, but they didn’t press on about Donghyuck’s personality change. It was obvious why his snobby façade had began fading away: Mark had given him a reality check. He had made a friend that had actually treated him like a real person with feelings, as much as the word friend disappointed him.

 

Donghyuck couldn’t deny there was more than a friendship connection between the two. If they were just friends like they were saying, Marks hand wouldn’t still be on his thigh. Mark wouldn’t smile every time they looked at one another. Their hearts wouldn’t beat so fast every time they were with one another.

Donghyuck felt cold for a second, sudden realisation that he _did_ like Mark more than he was aware of. Truthfully he was freaked out by this, because Donghyuck has never had a romantic attraction to anybody in this way before.

 

“Earth to Donghyuck” Someone’s hand was waving in front of Donghyuck’s face, and when he did snap out of his little bubble he saw Jisung’s very large hand a few centimetres from his skin. “So? are you in?”

 

With a few blinks, his eyes wandered around to all the boys staring at him expectantly. He had missed whatever they had asked him and he was still finding it hard to to concentrate as Mark’s hand on his thigh squeezed down slightly and that sudden rush of heat was back inside his body.

 

“Huh?” His expression must have been exhilarated, because he could hear Mark’s laugh ripple through the room and echo around them. “in for what?”

 

“The party tomorrow” Mark spoke, turning to face Donghyuck. His eyes wide and scanning his face while a small smile crept over his face. “My place”

 

“I mean” Donghyuck gulped, using all his power to pull his eyes away from Mark’s gaze. “Parties aren’t really my scene”

 

“Really?” Jeno rose his eyebrow, gulping down the water that was left in the scrunched bottle, before throwing it behind him without a care in the world. “Aren’t you like super minted though? Surely you can afford to throw the coolest parties ever”

 

Donghyuck shrugged. “Well, my family parties include classical music, suits and tall glasses of expensive champagne, i don’t think they really match up with your idea of a cool party”

 

“The champagne part sounds like my idea of a cool party” Jisung piped up, early a strong slap on the arm from Chenle.

 

“Jisung your like seven” Mark scoffed, leaning back in his chair to rest his head on Donghyuck’s shoulder — this once more earned lingering stares from the other boys, but none of them bothered to speak up about the contact between them.

 

Lunch time came around before any of them even noticed, and they ended up spending their entire lunch time in the music room, laughing, eating snacks and watching Jisung attempt to play super fast songs on his bass guitar.

Donghyuck had to admit it was one of the best lunch times he had had in a while.

 

 

* * *

 

 

After contemplating it for more than seven hours, Donghyuck had denied going to the party at first. He told Mark that he was nervous to spend time at a house party with lots of people he didn’t know, but Mark had done his best to reassure him and persuade him to come

He told Donghyuck that if he came to the party he would be able to see him all dressed up and looking hot, and to be straight - it was enough to convince Donghyuck to turn up.

 

So Donghyuck had done his best to dress up to fit the scene he was about to endure. He had styled his red hair casually, and had spent more time than ever on his makeup. He had added some eyeliner and light red lip tint, and pulled on his only pair of ripped jeans and a dark green t-shirt. Renjun and Jaemin were not pleased with his get-up, they had laughed and said he looked like he belonged in the band with the others. But Donghyuck knew that their button up shirts and slacks would be standing out at the party, and not him.

 

Mark had actually asked Donghyuck to bring along his friends, and that’s how he found himself sat on a busy hot bus with Renjun and Jaemin. Renjun had begged them to take the bus so that his parents couldn’t find out where they were going, and Jaemin and Donghyuck could do nothing but understand - his mother would’vefreaked if she found out he was going to a party on the other side of town and grounded him; or worse — took away his credit card.

 

Upon arriving at the house, Donghyuck was instantly met with the blaring of cacophonous music, and the small house that people were poring into was lighting up from the inside.

Donghyuck felt as though they stuck out like a sore thumb, they passed through the gates of the house and were met with the eyes of lingering teens who were puffing on cigarettes and drinking from beer bottles. Some were even driving skateboards along side the roads and a few pushed against walls with their lips connected.

 

“Is it bad that i’m slightly scared?” Renjun had to speak loudly, his hand was scrunched around the bottom of Donghyuck’s t-shirt as though he was protection, and they waddled inside of the home.

 

Inside was even more intrusive than the outside. Sweaty bodies were everywhere, walking and dancing around the halls of the home and although it was dark, the lights that were blaring through lit up people’s faces. Donghyuck could also see what Mark’s house looked like; it was small.

 

It was small and dainty, the walls were over loading with photos of Mark as a child, pets and what looked like photos of Mark with siblings or cousins. The hallway had a large cabinet that was full with old relics, and upon closer inspection Donghyuck could see medals and trophies from guitar competitions that Mark had competed in.

Although the house was small, it was full of family love appreciation. That was something that was missing in Donghyuck’s large empty mansion — the walls were bare and nobody seemed to care for Donghyuck’s growth and social life. He felt glad and warm inside knowing that Mark was supported and loved.

 

He had little time to dwell on this, because his body was being pushed and pulled in a few directions from passing party goers, who were desperately on the hunt for more alcohol or someone’s mouth to shove their tongue inside. Renjun and Jaemin were pulling him in the direction of the kitchen, in which to his surprise was less packed than the rest of the house. From the kitchen he could see the backyard, which the music was coming from and people were dancing on the patio.

 

Donghyuck couldn’t express his happiness when he saw a familiar face stumble into the kitchen. The black hair and bright yellow jacket wasn’t hard to miss, and he made himself very announced by falling on top of Jaemin.

 

“Dong! You came!” Jeno’s voice was slurred as he spoke, Jaemin was grunting as he tried to hold him up straight and away from his body. His cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes were a rosy colour also, and the red cup in his hand indicated that he most likely was not sober. “Whose your friends?”

 

After introducing his friends three times until Jeno remembered their names, Jeno took out three bottles of beer from the fridge as if it was his own home and handed them to the three classical boys. A few minutes after standing in an not to silent silence due to the music blaring, Renjun and Donghyuck watched in astound as Jeno hooked his arm around a giggling Jaemin’s shoulder and led him away to dance.

 

“I can’t believe this!” Renjun sighed, putting the bottle down onto the kitchen counter. “We’ve been here five minutes! Jaemin isn’t the type to hook up with random guys!”

 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes at Renjun’s reaction, he couldn’t quite work out if Renjun was just annoyed or slightly jealous. Unlike Renjun, Donghyuck popped open the cap to the beer and began to take small sips. It tasted more raw than the rich champagne he was normally used to, but it didn’t stop him from enjoying the buzz his body received with each gulp he took.

 

“Maybe that’s just because he’s never had the chance” Donghyuck shrugged, leaning forward to shout into Renjun’s ear over the music. “He’ll be the one to have the most fun tonight, i bet”

 

Since arriving Donghyuck hadn’t seen Mark yet, much to his dismay. He wondered what the other was wearing, if he was also wearing any makeup, and if he was as drunk as as Jeno was. Like it was planned, just as Donghyuck was about to up and leave to look for him, a very very familiar face waltzed into the kitchen. Donghyuck could see why Mark said he’d look hot tonight, because he definitely did. His normally beanie covered hair was now out for the whole world to see, straightened but just curling by his forehead.

 

“Hyuck!” His voice was shrill, making the celloist beside him jump out of his skin. Mark didn't waste any time before reaching towards him and wrapping his arms around his waist, which shocked both of the boys in the room. Mark smelled like cheap vodka and some other substance he didn’t want to think about, but he didn’t seem to care. All he cared about was how warm the others body felt against his, and how soft his stomach felt pressed against his own.

 

“Hey Mark” He replied, his hands finding themselves resting against his hips as the other pulled away. To his surprise he didn’t seem as intoxicated as he was expecting, maybe just a slight buzz running through his brightly lit face. “I was looking for you”

 

After introducing himself to Renjun politely, Donghyuck felt his fingers being linked with the others and his body being dragged out to where everyone was dancing. Maybe if he wasn’t so swooned by this, he would’ve heard Renjun shouting at him to stay from behind him.

 

The blaring music and the bass that radiated from the speakers was itching into each and every pocket of Donghyuck’s skin. He didn’t know that he could dance the way he did, the music sinking through his veins moved his body in ways he never had before. He found his head swaying and his hips moving in time with the beat for hours and hours on end. Mark danced with him, every so often if the song was right Marks hands would tremble and land on Donghyuck’s hips, moving them in time.

Maybe it was the tipsiness of the alcohol he had endured or maybe the fact that Mark’s hands fit so perfectly onto his waist, he found himself smiling, laughing, singing. Simply having a great time, he felt free.

 

It felt as if he had been dancing for hours and hours on end with no stopping, his back pressed against Mark’s chest and a radiating laughter echoing through his ears made him never want to stop. However once the warmth of Mark’s body had disappeared, his feet came to a halt and he was spinning around with a pout on his face.

 

“I’ll be back, i just need to go fill up my cup” Mark held up his empty red cup, also taking Donghyuck’s in his other hand. “Don’t go anywhere”

 

Mark pressed a sloppy kiss to his nose, and the same feeling of euphoria spread across him like it did the first time Mark’s lips pressed against his nose, and it took all of his well-being not to reach forward and connect their lips right there.

 

Although Mark sounded convincing, he didn’t come back any time soon like Donghyuck was told. It had been almost an hour. Donghyuck had retreated to sitting alone on the edge on the patio, his legs handing over the edge and was kicking at the grass for some type of entertainment. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed, his buzzed body needed to dance, but he felt uncomfortable without the comfort of Mark with him. His head was spinning in circles, his eyes fuzzy and he felt as though he was loosing all sanity sat alone like this.

 

“What is a pretty boy like you doing sitting alone?” A deep voice snapped Donghyuck out of his isolation. His eyes were met by those of Lucas, a punk he recognised from the year above.

His cheeks were flushed and he wobbled as he crouched beside the other, a large smirk plastered across his face. “Wanna dance?”

 

A large hand was held out in front of him, beaconing him to stand and follow the rather large boy back to the centre of the patio. He didn’t want to, his mind was telling him just to wait a little longer for Mark to return. But he wasn’t completely sober, and his legs disobeyed his thoughts and stood and he found a hand wrapped around his forearm, leading him towards the bustle of bodies.

For a second he was just going to walk away, but when he saw a reflection of Marks body inside the kitchen talking to another group of people, his body began to move in time with Lucas’. If Mark wants to make me wait for this long, i may as well have fun doing so, he thought as he felt the other grip his waist.

 

He should’ve been enjoying it, the music felt amazing pulsing inside him body and his buzz from the beer made his insides feel warm. Nevertheless, he couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort and somewhat guilt of having another boy’s hands touch his waist.

His brain was telling him that his waist was reserved for Mark’s hands only, but he fought that thought away. Throughout dancing his mind just kept swirling and swirling with images of _Mark._ Images of Mark’s hand caressing his thigh, Mark attempting to kiss him while dying his hair, Mark kissing his nose. And, it frustrated him. His dance moves became more stiff, and his soft expression turned hard at the thought of all of this because he truthfully felt confused at the punks actions.

 

He didn’t have time to think about this, because he felt the large hands that were moving against his hips in time with the music he pulled away, and his own body being yanked forward by a pair of cold fingers. He turned around quickly, only to be met with the expression of dismay and anger from Mark. Donghyuck could see his jawline clenched, and although there was blaring lights against his skin; his cheeks were red. Not red in the soft blushful way he was used to, but red in animosity.

 

“What are you doing?” Mark yelled over the music, stepping closer towards Lucas, whose face was ridden with confusion. “Why are you touching Donghyuck like that?”

 

It took a few minutes for Donghyuck to maneuver Mark away from the patio before any fists were raised. It was harder than he thought to tug Mark away, the blondes body was itching closer and closer to Lucas’ with every second. And the heat on his cheeks suggested that Mark was not at all happy with what he had seen.

Donghyuck managed to find an empty room at the end of the living room corridor, and he pushed Mark inside before he could protest and slammed the door behind him.

 

He couldn’t pay much attention to the surroundings, but all he could suffice was that he had pulled him into a bedroom. Though he didn’t care, he only cared to try and calm Mark down, but the other was too busy pacing back and force and whispering things that Donghyuck couldn’t hear due to the music from the party.

 

“Mark” Donghyuck stepped forward and placed two hands on his shoulders, gripping them so that the taller boy would stand still for just one second. “What happened?”

 

“Your asking _me_ what happened?” Donghyuck’s mouth opened in shock. He had never heard Mark sound so angry, his usual soft tone replaced by one much more raspy and choler. “You’re the one with your back all pressed up to some random guy!”

 

“You left me waiting for you for over an hour! Of course i’m going to dance!” Donghyuck crossed his arms and scoffed, stepping back so he was leaning against the wall. “Why do you care, anyway? It’s not like your my boyfriend, Mark”

 

“Well, maybe i want to be!” The other yelled back, stepping forward so he was inches away from Donghyuck. “Maybe i care because i don’t wanna see the guy that i like rubbing himself all over another boy!”

 

Silence fell over the room; So crippling that even the music had drowned out into the background. Nothing but a small buzz echoed within Donghyuck’s ears. He was trying to process what the other was saying, his mouth hung slightly open because he could not find the right words to respond.

 

“Don’t you know that by now?” Mark asked again, this time his voice wasn’t shrill or laced with anger. It was gentle, and it cracked slightly at the end. “Don’t you know that i like you so much that it drives me crazy?”

 

Gulping, Donghyuck found his hands shaking. He couldn’t work out if he was angry, shocked or glad that the other was confessing. Though he knew he was completely confused to why he was letting this all out now, why he hadn’t just told him in the first place and why he had to confess due to the anger he had experienced.

 

“H-how would i know that?” Donghyuck dared to whisper back, his voice sounded so soft and quiet that it made Mark’s insides twist and the corners of his lips twitch. “You never told me”

 

“Did i have to tell you?”

 

“Yes”

 

“Couldn’t you work it out? I’ve liked you since the beginning of he summer term, Hyuck” Mark started, he paused for a second to gather his words and continued with a small gulp. “I’ve liked you since the day i saw you waltz into the cafeteria the first day in your bright yellow cardigan”

 

He stepped closer the Donghyuck once more, his fingers brushing against the smaller ones. He smiled softly at Donghyuck, but didn’t give him time to respond before continuing.

 

“Couldn’t you work it out from the way i always touch you? My hands on your thigh, my head on your shoulder. I did that because i found you so frustratingly irresistible that my body constantly itches to be touching yours” Mark’s fingers grabbed Donghyuck’s more harshly this time, and he interlinked them.

 

“Or the way i smile every time you talk? Or the way i tried to kiss you in your bedroom the day we dyed your hair, is that something someone would do if they didn’t like you”

 

“Why didn’t you just kiss me then?” Donghyuck responded, a shaky breath leaving his lips after he spoke the words. “I was waiting for you to kiss me but you didn’t”

 

“Other than the fact we were interrupted” Mark laughed a little, his breath fanning Donghyuck’s skin. “I thought you would reject me, i thought you didn’t like me to the same degree”

 

“Kiss me now” Donghyuck’s words shocked both him and Mark. The sudden wave of confidence that had hit him from Mark’s confession was making his body itch. Marks lips looked so inviting under the pale lighting of the room and his skin looked so soft that Donghyuck couldn’t stop the demand from toppling from his body. “Kiss me now and prove it, prove that everything your saying is the truth”

 

There was so pause, no thinking, no double take. Mark reached with both hands and grabbed the sides of his face, his fingers brushing over his soft skin for just a small second before he was leaning closer, closer, so close that his top lip brushed against Donghyuck’s cupids bow beforeletting his lips press against the others.

 

When their lips touched, it was everything Donghyuck had imagined it to be. The rest of the room turned black, the music had completely disappeared to which all he could hear was the thumping inside his chest so loud that it was running through each and every single one of his veins.

 

Donghyuck had imagined their to be sparklers let loose inside his chest once their lips touched, but it was much more than a few lousy sparklers. Instead it was thousands of popping fireworks let rip inside his body, bursting out from the seams and floating around them, causing such a state of euphoria and bliss for both boys involved.

 

It was almost indescribable, the way Mark’s lips fit against his own. Mark’s tongue pushed inside of his mouth, and his hands were now running through the sides of Donghyuck’s ruby hair. It felt like they stayed like this for hours, and hours; their chests pressed so tightly together that their hearts had began beating as one.

 

* * *

 

When morning came around, Donghyuck couldn’t recognise the soft materiel of his white cashmere blanket, and the pillow his head was resting on was not soft and squishy like the one on his own bed. He was instantly hit with the start of a small headache, though his eyes were still closed he could feel the light pounding against his eyelids.

The room sounded too silent, nothing but the chirping of the birds outside and the sound of the balmy wind hitting against the trees by the window could be heard. It all suddenly clicked when Donghyuck heard a soft snore that didn’t come from his mouth, but of one beside him.

 

The alcohol he drank last night was not too heavy, so it didn’t take long for the memories of the party to come flooding back into his mind. He remembers kissing Mark, he could remember the way his lips felt brushing against the others and he could remember the way his hands faltered against his skin.

 

The memories of the kiss caused Donghyuck eyes to flutter open, and he couldn’t help but admit he was disappointed when he wasn’t met with the face of the other boy. He could feel his back pressed against a warm chest, and a long arm stretched around his waist; he didn’t think he would ever be the little spoon, but it felt so right.

 

Donghyuck quickly scanned his slightly fuzzy, sleep ridden eyes around the room, observing the details. It was much smaller than his own, but it seemed more alive and thriving with love and dedication. The walls were a dark blue, but the colour seemed not to matter as they were covered in various types of different posters, shelving and stickers.

 

There was a small bookshelf in the left corner, and Donghyuck squinted in order to see the guitar learning books that were muddled among other english books Donghyuck couldn’t quite understand. And beside the bookshelf was a light beige acoustic guitar, and a large electric one Donghyuck had seen many times before.

 

Though he couldn’t focus on the outlining’s of the room for long, because the arm that was draped around his waist was tugging lightly, pulling Donghyuck even closer to the warm body behind him. He noticed he was still wearing the clothes he had worn to the party, but his jeans had been swapped for a pair of bed shorts — that were clearly Mark’s from the blue electric guitar pattern — and his socks had been removed.

 

He spun around carefully in his spot on the bed, not wanting to disturb the other in his sleep and possibly wake him so early.

The sight he was met with was enough for his heart to start pounding seven paces too fast, and his cheeks became hotter with every second.

 

Mark’s face was just inches from his own. His bare face was a soft blush colour, and Donghyuck could see a few small pimples on his jawline, which he found somewhat adorable.

Mark’s eyes were closed, his eyelashes resting peacefully on his upper cheeks, though the same couldn’t be said about the mop of blonde hair that was sticking up in all directions on his head.

 

Donghyuck let out a small squeal due to the cuteness of the other boy involuntarily. Also due to the fact he couldn’t believe what had actually happened, and how everything seemed to just feel so _right._

 

Soft eyelids began twitching. Donghyuck turned bright red at the fact he had woken up the other with his noise, but he seemed to not care when his eyes were met with a pair of cool brown, and he saw the small smile itch across Mark’s face.

 

“Good morning” Mark’s morning voice was just as wonderful as his morning appearance. Soft, low and raspy, enough to make Donghyuck smile from ear to ear. “How are you?”

 

How was he? Perfect. Donghyuck felt absolutely perfect, content, happy. He felt as though he had nothing to complain about, he wasn’t thinking about the stress of school, or the stress of his inconsistent family. He was thinking about Mark, and only Mark.

 

“Was everything you said true?” Donghyuck asked, his voice a low whisper. “Have you really liked me since the start of the year?”

 

Mark laughed slightly, his breath fanning Donghyuck’s face. The violinist felt the fingers of the other moving in circles on his back, as he pulled them closer than they were bother; if that was even possible.

 

“Yes” Mark smiled, nodding his head against the pillow. “Remember that day we met, in the auditorium?”

 

“You say it like it was years ago”

 

“Feels like it” Donghyuck hummed to agree, urging Mark to continue with what he was saying. “You know that i wasn’t actually there to check the amps right? I said i was there for a talent show, but our school doesn’t even hold talent shows”

 

Donghyuck’s mouth parted in an ‘o’ shape, as he put the pieces together in his mind. He scolded himself for being so stupid, and missing the fact that Mark went there just to meet him that first day.

 

“I was so horrible to you” Donghyuck pouted, letting his own arm flop over the body of the other. “Why did you even like me, i was such a brat”

 

Mark shrugged, with a challenging smile on his face. “You still are”

 

“Don’t make me hit you already” Donghyuck bit back, the same smirk appearing on his own features.

 

“I liked your attitude, sometimes, it felt challenging. You were different, the complete opposite of me” Mark explained, his hand now moving to trail along the bare skin on Donghyuck’s arm. “And now that your a little nicer, we fit perfectly. We balance each other”

 

They fell into a short silence, it was comfortable. The warm buzz of sunlight seeping through the curtains bounced from Mark’s face, his tepid eyes taking in every small detail of Donghyuck’s face.

 

“Did we join the party after we kissed?” Mark asked, his memory seeming to be a little fuzzy. “You were such a godly kisser than my brain turned to mush”

 

Donghyuck hit his arm from embarrassment. “Or the fact you had one to many cups of that weird alcoholic juice”

 

“Maybe so”

 

“We went back for a while, but i think after letting everything out you were just tired. That, and you kept trying to kiss me on the kitchen counter. And trying to fight Lucas all night”

 

Mark groaned, obviously feeling shameful of his jealous behaviour, though Donghyuck didn’t mind. He liked feeling protected like this, it felt new, and special.

 

“Did your friends have fun? They seem cool” Mark asked, brushing away the entire Lucas situation. “Stuck up, of course, but they were chill”

 

“Yah!” Donghyuck gasped, remembering the site he saw when he pulled Mark away from the kitchen to put him to bed. “I totally saw Jeno and Jaemin making out by your bathroom in the kitchen!”

 

“Really?” Mark raised an eyebrow, a look of shock appearing. “I knew it! Jeno always stares at him when he walks into the cafeteria”

 

“Gross” Donghyuck rolled his eyes, but he didn’t have time to make another snide remark before Mark hand had ridden from making circles on his arm to cup the side of his face.

 

“You are just too cute” Mark hummed, his thumb moving against the skin on his cheek. “I didn’t realise you’d be able to kiss so well”

 

“Excuse me? Why would you even underestimate my kissing skills. Meanie” Donghyuck scoffed with a pout. “I won’t kiss you again”

His tone of voice was challenging, enough to cause Mark to hum and raise his eyebrow. “You won’t kiss me?”

 

“Yeah, i wont” Donghyuck didn’t even have time to finish his sentence, because his mouth was being closed by Mark leaning forward and resting his lips over the others.

 

“You won’t?” Mark asked again, his voice extremely quiet, breath hitting Donghyuck’s lips.

 

But he didn’t respond, instead Donghyuck closed the gap between them by leaning forward and smooshing his lips against the older’s.

 

It was soft, and gentle. Donghyuck’s head became dizzy at the feeling that ran through him, the warm of Mark’s lips lighting a fire inside his body and sending a smile across his face.

 

They both began giggling, their teeth knocking against once another’s and their hands linking together beneath the sheets. They spent a few more hours like this, laying in harmony and their laughter filling the room.

 

* * *

 

 

Winter came around faster than both boys had expected. The sun started to disappear the sky became dark before they had even got home before anybody had even had chance to realise the months were ending.

 

Donghyuck was truthfully sad that summer was coming to an end, autumn went by without a warning and he felt bitter that it was ending before he had a chance to realise it. 

 

This summer had been the best Donghyuck had ever had. He had spent the last few days of school sneaking off with Mark to the bleachers in the field when he was feeling too stressed to go to his hard classes. They would spend the time basking under the sun with their hands linked, and Mark would never stop kissing his cheeks. He knew that it wasn’t the best thing to not go to class, but he was so super ahead of all his classes that it didn’t even make any difference towards his grades; he still scored that A+ at the end of year exams.

 

When they weren’t sneaking off to the bleachers, most lunchtimes they would spend it inside the music room. Donghyuck would enjoy watching Mark play the guitar, his cheeks hurting from smiling so much because of how happy Mark would seem while banging his head to the music.

 

Renjun and Jaemin had eventually opened up to Mark and the other boys in Mark’s band. They would also tag along to the music room some lunch times, Renjun had instantly bonded with Chenle, and they would always be talking in chinese and laughing over things nobody understood.

Jaemin was a little different, he was still quiet and extremely snobby, but since Donghyuck had caught him and Jeno kissing at the party, he noticed him sharing small shy glances with the drummer, and Jeno would have a habit on resting his hand on Jaemin’s thigh when he thought nobody could see. 

 

The students of the music school were all very shocked when they saw Mark and Donghyuck walking hand in hand down the halls. A few rumours spread; that Donghyuck had payed Mark to date him, that Donghyuck’s _father_ had payed Mark to date him. It was absurd, and Donghyuck would have cared if Mark‘s hands weren’t so soft and didn’t fit so well with his own.

 

Mark had a habit of kissing Donghyuck against his locker, sometimes bothering to hide behind the metal door but other times he would kiss him right out in the open. It made Donghyuck turn bright red, and his hands shake from happiness. He felt loved, and wanted, he couldn’t feel better than he did.

 

Before they knew it, the summer and autumn terms was ending and the students were flocking out of the school halls to go enjoy their few months of break.

 

Donghyuck had expected his break to be full of isolation like every year, he would normally sit alone in his room learning new songs to play on his violin, ready to impress his fathers friends at the christmas company dinner. But this year, he had spent nearly almost every day at Mark’s house.

 

Mark’s mother and father had taken a strong liking to Donghyuck, they babied him like he was their own child. Mrs Lee would coo and pinch his cheeks every time he walked through the front door, rushing over to grab cookies for him to eat. Donghyuck also met Mark’s older cousin, Taeyong who had travelled to seoul from busan to spend the holidays with Donghyuck’s family.

He was extremely handsome, and his hair was the same red shade as Donghyuck’s. He had even brought a gift for Mark and Donghyuck, a matching pair of purple pyjamas; Donghyuck didn’t take them off all winter.

 

When it started to snow, Donghyuck was woken by a bright scream in his ears and a pair of warm hands pushing at his sides. He peeled his eyes open to see a bright eyed Mark hovering over him, his hands cuddling against Donghyuck’s cheeks.

 

“It’s snowing, babe” Donghyuck cringed at the pet name, but his heart twisted once Mark pecked his nose with a giggle. “Let’s go play in the snow!”

 

Donghyuck groaned, trying to roll over to shove his head back into the pillow, but Mark had a strong grip on the sides of his face.

 

“It’s, like” Donghyuck quickly peaked at the clock beside Mark’s bedroom door. “Eight in the morning”

 

Mark rolled his eyes before collapsing down onto Donghyuck with a huff. The punk rested his head in the crook of Donghyuck’s neck, and pressed a soft kiss to his skin.

 

“Fine” The small kiss was enough to convince Donghyuck to peel himself from the warmth of the bed and into the coldest of Mark’s room. It annoyed Donghyuck that Mark didn’t ever close his bedroom window.

 

Donghyuck pattered across the bedroom, he wasn’t wearing a shirt and his bed hair was in full force. Mark was leaning against the mattress, eyes scanning across Donghyuck’s body with a bright grin across his face. The guitarist was already dressed, a bright orange hoodie draped over his body and a pair of black boots.

 

He was much more of a morning person than Donghyuck, he usually would wake up at least an hour before the redhead and would make them breakfast to eat in bed, or would draw across Donghyuck’s face with a marker; but that would never end well.

 

Once Donghyuck was bright and happy, the sleep was ridden from his body and he was more awake, Mark was dragging him out into his back yard.

 

The cold was instantly a shock to Donghyuck’s body, goosebumps rising over his skin and his nose turning into a bright red bulb.

 

“Hey rudolf” Mark hollered from the other side of the garden, and upon looking up Donghyuck could see a round ball of snow heading closer and closer towards him, before it hit him square in the forehead.

 

The rest of the day was spent running around in the snow, throwing snowballs and falling into the snow together. It got to a point where Donghyuck cried because his hands were so cold so Mark dragged him into the kitchen and made him a large mug of hot chocolate, which Donghyuck rewarded with a kiss.

 

* * *

 

It took a while for Donghyuck to figure out what to get Mark for christmas.

 

He spent days and days skimming through punk rock booklets, googling different present ideas and visiting his local mall around three times a week.

 

He was starting to give up, he didn’t know how to truly surprise him and make him super exultant on christmas day, until him and Mark took and impromptu trip into the mall on one Saturday, and he caught Mark gawking into the window of a music store at something very, very expensive; so he came back alone a few days later and brought it for him without a second thought 

 

When Christmas day finally came around, Donghyuck woke up to the same usual silence inside his home. His father was out of town on a ‘very crucial’ business trip and his step mother had flown herself and Doyoung to jeju island.

 

The only reason Donghyuck has stayed home was because he didn’t want to bother Mark’s family on such a special day. They were very religious so christmas was a day of speciality for them. He had agreed to go to Mark’s house for the christmas dinner, after Mark’s mother and father had begged and begged him to come over and visit.

 

The violinist made sure he looked as smart as ever for Christmas dinner. He dressed himself in his smartest salmon coloured sweater and light blue jeans - the ones Mark had brought him after he complained that all of Donghyuck’s trousers were way too formal - and styled up his hair.

 

His red hair had now faded into a Auburn shade, and Mark’s blonde hair turned so brassy that he made Donghyuck smother three packets of black dye on it one random day. Though, Donghyuck did love him with dark hair, it made his lips look even pinker.

 

Christmas lunch went absolutely perfectly. It was everything Donghyuck’s had imagined a family to be like on christmas dinner.

They didn’t stop smiling and laughing the entire time, it was to the point where Donghyuck’s cheeks were sore and his throat felt like sandpaper, but his heart was tingling with warmth and happiness.

 

He had never experienced a christmas like this, one full of love. He was used to having a few expensive presents thrown at him and then spending the rest of his day alone, eating expensive food from his fridge - all _alone_ \- but today he felt like he was finally apart of something special, a family.

 

Donghyuck would be lying if he felt like his chest wasn’t on fire with nerves and excitement when it came time for Mark and Donghyuck to exchange presents. They all sat in the living room, Mark sat across from Donghyuck with his foot outstretched so it was brushing against Donghyuck’s ankles and Mr and Mrs Lee sat on the sofa - Taeyong had taken himself to bed with ‘meat exhaustion’ from eating too much.

 

Mrs Lee had given Donghyuck a violin pin, it was dainty but it looked as though it was hand painted and Donghyuck instantly ran and pinned it to his beige black bag with a bright grin on his face. Mr Lee had given him a t-shirt he made, it was dark blue and had a large painting of a black guitar that transformed into a violin half way down. It was so wonderful and creative that Donghyuck had to wear it right at once.

 

Mark had insisted that he gave his gift first and Donghyuck didn’t have the time or energy to resist. Mark pulled out a box that was carefully wrapped in a green paper, a small orange bow resting on top. The colours heavily contrasted one another and was a sore sight for his eyes, but the fact Mark had tried to hard to make it look so wonderful was enough for Donghyuck to not care.

 

“Hurry and open it” Mark looked slightly nervous, with red ears and a scrunched face. “Don’t hate me if you don’t like it”

 

Once the paper had been peeled off it revealed another box, this time it wasn’t wrapped in paper and was a light grey. Donghyuck hadn’t expected to open it and find the most beautiful, gleaming silver ring inside. Once his eyes set upon the silverware, he felt his eyes brimming with tears and his chest pounding so heavily he thought his heart was going to explode.

 

Mark held out his hand and revealed the ring that was sitting around his middle finger. It was the exact match of the one inside the box, and Donghyuck pulled it out quickly and placed it along the same finger; it fit perfectly.

 

“I love it” He breathed, unable to express the amount of gratitude he felt towards his boyfriend for such an amazing present. He knew Mark didn’t have all the money in the world, but he had somehow managed to buy Donghyuck the most beautiful piece of jewellery he had ever seen, and his heart was alight with contentment.

 

To make a long story short, the look on Mark’s face when he peeled open the sparkly wrapping paper of his rather large gift was one of entertainment and glee. His mouth was hanging open, his hands were shaking and he was making very loud, screaming noises.

 

“You really brought me this?” He gasped, eyes fixated to the present before him.

 

Donghyuck nodded. The guitar he had brought for Mark was the newest release by the most expensive brand, but the price was not even a falter when he saw how much Mark was pining over it, and the expression and reaction from him right now made it so much more worth it.

 

Mark was even so ecstatic that he ran forward and grabbed Donghyuck’s cheeks together and smushed his lips against his in front of his parents.

 

“Thank you so much” He smiled against Donghyuck’s face, pulling away with red cheeks. “I love you”

 

That was the first time Mark and said those words, and the way Donghyuck’s heart reacted knew that he felt the exact same way, an unbearable itch on his lips telling him that it was so so right.

 

“I love you too, Merry christmas, Mark”

 

The rest of the holiday went amazingly, Mark had snuck him and Donghyuck to his bedroom before his mother had chance to whip out the old photo albums and he quickly tucked himself and Donghyuck into bed, finding a movie for them to watch.

 

They didn’t pay any attention to the movie, they were too busy with their hands in each others hair and lips smacking.

 

And once the movie had finished, Mark was sound asleep, his head against Donghyuck’s chest.

 

It only took a few more minutes for Donghyuck’s eyes to flutter shut also, nothing but content and happiness in his heart.

 

Donghyuck was happy. He felt loved, and wanted. He felt as though maybe the annoying punk with apricot hair wasn’t so bad, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I hope you all enjoyed this fic  
> I worked for a long long time to post this so if you did enjoy it please leave a kind comment and some kudos!  
> I am working on posting more soon, so please follow me so you don't miss any!  
> Thank you


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